New York auction house Guernsey's has postponed the sale of some of the South African leader's belongings, including the key to his cell and the shirt he wore when he was released from Robben Island.

Mandela, referred to as Madiba or Tata (Father of the nation), who was later to become President of South Africa, spent 18 of his 27- year jail term in Robben Island prison. He never gave up.

Mandela was confined to a small cell without a bed on Robben Island Mandela, who is a national hero in South Africa, spent 18 out of 27 years of his time in prison on Robben Island. Mr Brand later ...

During Idris Elba‘s preparation for his role in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom as South African political leader Nelson Mandela, he visited the exact prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years ...

“The University of Robben Island,” Lionel Davis, Mandela’s fellow prisoner, said proudly of the jail where he was incarcerated from 1964 to 1971.

Nelson Mandela and former U.S. President Bill Clinton look to the outside from Mandela's Robben Island prison cell in Cape Town, South Africa, in this photo from March 27, 1998.

Mandela, referred to as Madiba or Tata (Father of the nation), who was later to become President of South Africa, spent 18 of his 27- year jail term in Robben Island prison. He never gave up.

South Africa has demanded a halt to an auction of the key to the prison cell on Robben Island once occupied by former President Nelson Mandela. The sale is due in January in New York by Guernsey's ...